Let Them Eat Nothing?

In the middle of a state economy mired in
stagnant growth, Gov. John Kasich and his fellow Republicans are
attempting to weaken a key safety net that benefits more than 1.8
million Ohioans.

Kasich’s administration is refusing to
seek a federal waiver on work requirements for the state’s food stamp
program, which means 134,000 “able-bodied,” childless adults in the
state will, starting in October, need to work or attend work training
courses for 20 hours a week to continue receiving their benefits.

Then, in November, the federal government
is allowing extra funding to expire that will cut benefits for food
stamp recipients by roughly 5.5 percent.

At the same time, federal Republicans are
pursuing more cuts to the food stamp program that would slash another 5
percent in funding over 10 years, in part by blocking states from
seeking out temporary waivers on work requirements.

In Hamilton County, the developments are
really bad news for the roughly 18,000 childless, able-bodied food stamp
recipients: Starting in October, they’ll have to find a job or work
training opportunities in a state economy that’s only added 0.6 percent
more jobs in the past year. In November, federal cuts will reduce food
stamp benefits, which, again, thousands of recipients will now have to
work for, from $200 a month, or about $2.22 a meal, to $189 a month, or
$2.10 a meal.

To most Americans, this should come as
little surprise. Ever since President Barack Obama rose to the White
House, Republicans have done their best to label him “the food stamp
president” in an attempt to tear down a program that ensures millions of
Americans don’t slide into poverty and starvation.

The problem for Republicans is that the
amount of food stamp recipients has dramatically risen in the past five
years.

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This, Republicans argue, is making Americans more dependent on
government and less likely to seek jobs — as if the $2.10 a meal that
food stamps provide is somehow addicting. To solve the dependency,
Republicans want to draw down the benefits with stringent work
requirements and other qualifiers.

But the Republican proposals are a
classic case of attacking a symptom and ignoring the cause. The reason
food stamp use has gone up is because the Great Recession has thrown
people into dire economic situations. Not only has this fact been backed
by various research papers from multiple economists and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, but it speaks to the entire purpose of the
program: Food stamps are what economists call an “automatic stabilizer,”
a program that grows during bad times to automatically stabilize the
economy.

So when food stamp use grows in the
middle of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, that
just means the program is accomplishing its main goal: It’s allowing
people to avoid starving just because they can’t find a well-paying job
when there are few jobs available.

These kinds of economic stabilizers are a
good thing for the economy, too. According to progressive think tank
Policy Matters Ohio, every $1 put toward food aid generates about $1.70
in economic activity.

Put another way, Kasich and Republicans are actually making the cause — a bad economy — worse by attacking the symptom.

On the state level, the problem seems to
be that Kasich and his administration are actually falling for their own
talk about Ohio undergoing an “economic miracle.” The governor
seriously seems to believe that Ohio, which now has the same
unemployment rate as the nation after years of being ahead of the
national average, is undergoing a special economic transformation.

Consider the disconnect: In early
September, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS)
announced the state would no longer pursue a waiver on the work
requirements because the recovering economy removed the need for lax
rules. Two weeks later, ODJFS released job numbers that put Ohio’s
unemployment rate at a one-year high of 7.3 percent after the state
added only 0.6 percent more jobs between August 2012 and August this
year.

Meanwhile, income inequality continues to
rise nationwide, and U.S. poverty levels are near a 20-year high, with
Ohio ranked No. 33 out of 50 states for child poverty and more than half
of Cincinnati’s children classified as living in poverty.

Given the economic indicators, now is
absolutely not the time to weaken a key safety net for 134,000 Ohioans.
Doing so shows, at best, a wild disconnect from the economic realities
facing the state and, at worst, apathy toward the plight of millions of
low-income residents.